Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aviva Bobb issued a three-year restraining order against Britney Spears’ former manager, Sam Lutfi, on Tuesday.
Jon Eardley, a lawyer who has repeatedly challenged the validity of Jamie Spears’ legal control over Britney, was also slapped with the same ban.
Both individuals must stay at least 100 yards away from Britney, her sons Jayden James and Sean Preston, and her family members’ homes, and must not harass with Britney and/or her children, or contact them via phone, mail and email.
It also prohibits them from “acting on Ms. Spears’s behalf or purporting to act on her behalf.” The orders, however, do not specifically protect Jamie and Britney’s mother, Lynne Spears, which Jamie had also sought to ensure.
The singer’s father, who initially filed the request on January 30, alleged that both men have harassed his daughter, adding that Sam Lutfi arranged the smuggling of a cell phone to the troubled pop star recently at a hotel.
SAYONARA: Sam Lutfi’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said he will appeal.
“We absolutely will appeal this ruling,” he said.” Never before has a restraining order been issued against someone who answered another person’s cries for help.”
The order followed several hearings in which Spears’ father, hairstylist, bodyguard, and others testified that the Circus performer was in fear of Sam Lutfi.
In his defense, his younger sister Christina Lutfi testified that it was Britney who hatched the cell phone scheme because she allegedly wanted Lutfi’s help.
Rumors have persisted for months that the singer wants to torpedo her father’s conservatorship, which has been in place since she went bat$h!t in early 2008.
One report even suggested that Jamie is drugging her. For now, at least, the court seems firmly on the side of her father and his legal conservatorship.
Lutfi’s unrelated lawsuit against the Spears family for defamation and battery, as well as for many thousands of dollars in back wages, is still pending.